Behmor 1600 Plus

Eight years in development, the Behmor 1600 Plus is the first home roaster with a full one pound capacity. It has patent pending smoke control technology, and is one of the very quietest roasters available....

Eight years in development, the Behmor 1600 Plus is the first home roaster with a full one pound capacity. It has patent pending smoke control technology, and is one of the very quietest roasters available. Those features alone would be enough to interest us. Then the easy-to-use programmed roast profiles caught our attention, so we had to try it.

The other home roasters we offer all use a form of hot air movement to roast the coffee. The Behmor 1600 Plus however is a convection type roaster. It actually develops the body of the roast a bit better than the hot air roasters. The flavor profile seems to be a little more rounded and perhaps a little sweeter than an air roaster. We think this is particularly nice when you are roasting for espresso, but it does a great job when roasting for other brewing methods as well.

From the photo you can see a door that opens downward. Inside there is a chaff collector tray. Behind that there is a wire mesh basket that fits in a rotisserie type motor. The basket contains several baffles that cause the coffee beans to be continually stirred and mixed while the basket rotates. This helps make sure the beans roast very evenly. Heat is supplied via two quartz-halogen light bulbs at the rear of the roaster.

The Plus Update

With the 1600 Plus comes a new Control Panel with lots of options and features. For users who prefer automatic use, there are 5 pre-programmed roast profiles. For advanced home roasters who want more control over the roasting process, the new control panel allows you to adjust everything from drum speed to temperature. There is also a new system self test that makes diagnosing problems faster and easier. Make sure to check out the full description and how-to from Behmor.

Here's our review of the Behmore 1600 Plus Roaster:

Fit, Finish and Construction— Good--All the parts fit, no flaws, misalignment, or poor machining were noted. It is a heavy (25 pounds), well made machine and it seems that it will be quite durable.

Styling— Fair—looks like a small toaster oven and about the same size (17.5"x10.5"x12.5"). It has a black and stainless steel exterior.

Ease of Use-- Good to Very Good—It uses a different roasting philosophy than other roasters we've used, so it takes a little getting used to. Once you understand it, it works well. Practice with a few small batches to get used to the way the Behmor 1600 roasts before you launch into a full one pound batch.

Batch Size and Flexibility— Excellent—It roasts anywhere from 1/4 to a full 1 pound of green coffee. It has 5 preset roasting curves to choose from and you can make limited modifications to the roast on the fly. You can initiate the cooling cycle at any point.

Smoke Control— Excellent--It has a small electric afterburner that eliminates the vast majority of the smoke. While it's not smokeless, it certainly smokes less. We roasted a full one pound batch to a Full City profile, and only a little wisp of smoke came out. Our range vent was more than adequate to handle it. Roasting by a window or under the range vent is very doable. This can be a particular asset for those of you in cooler parts of the country. If you try to roast darker, say into a French roast, it does smoke quite a bit.

Roast Profile Flexibility— Great--With the new Control Panel you can use the old automatic profile settings or take control and go manual. You can adjust the drum speed, adjust the temperature and jump back and forth between automatic and manual at any time. To learn more about how to use the new features, check this out.

Bean Visibility— Fair—The newly improved chaff collector helps a lot, so maybe we should call it "Fair Plus". You have to look at the beans through a small window in the door (helps if you keep it clean with Simple Green) and the interior is lighted by a single appliance type bulb(keep that cover clean as well). Your best method for determining the stage of your roast is to listen for the first and second cracks and to learn how long to carry a roast by keeping good notes on batch size, profile setting, time, type beans, and results. After a few trials, it isn't hard to get the beans to the profile you want, but there is a learning curve involved.

Noise Control— Excellent—This is the quietest roaster we've used, and will operate at 55db or less.

Bean Cooling--Good--The full cooling cycle takes about 13 minutes. You can open the door during cooling (a little chaff may escape) which will dramatically decrease your cooling time.

Chaff Collection— Good to Very Good—The chaff falls through the mesh in the roasting basket onto a removable tray. The updated design is much better at catching the chaff. The roaster comes with a paint brush to use as a "broom" to sweep out any chaff the collector misses.

Quality of the Cup— Excellent—The coffee we cupped from the Behmor was very nice. It actually produced some of the better home roasted espresso coffee we've had.

Warranty: 1 year from Behmor. You'll have to register with Behmor to activate your warranty.

Bottom Line?

So to break it down: the Behmor 1600 Plus has a large batch size, smoke suppresion, even roasting and noise control, great price and settings for automatic roasting or complete user control. On the whole, it's a great roaster, especially with the addition of the new Control Panel. The more we use this roaster and the more we learn about it, the more we like it.

Important Notes:

Be sure to go to the Behmore 1600 page on Behmor's site and download the updated user manual you'll find there. While you are there, download and print the updated cleaning and maintenance files and the instructions for the updated chaff collector. If you'll do that now, and read through it before your roaster arrives, it will save you a lot of time and frustration.

The Behmor 1600 won't start if you store it in a cold place (45 degrees or less) like in the garage during the winter. This restriction is to protect the electronics. Just bring it inside and warm it up a bit, and it should run fine.

Also, don't use acetone or nail polish remover to remove the residue from the stickers attached to your roaster. They will damage the finish. A little WD-40 or Goo Be Gone works well.

Behmor just released a maintenance update concerning periodic cleaning of a sensor and a fan. You can view those instructions via this link: Behmore 1600 Maintenance update

Returns Policy

If you are unsatisfied with your green coffee purchase, we will issue you a refund in the form of an in-store credit. Since coffee is a food item, we can't take it back once it leaves our control. We will work closely with you to insure you get the quality you expected at a price that is fair. This offer is good for 30 days from the date of shipment.
We will faithfully adhere to this policy for every customer, unless that customer is repeatedly abusing it. We withold the right to deny refunds, in rare cases, where a customer is repeatedly ordering coffee and then asking for a refund.

Home Coffee Roasters

The Gene Cafe and Behmor 1600 Plus are covered by a 1 year warranty from the manufacturer. The Fresh Roast SR-300 and SR-500 come with a 1 year warranty on the base unit and a 6 month warranty on the chaff collector, top cap and basket. Since the roasters are UL certified, the manufacturers ask that we refer all warranty issues directly to them. Although we do not directly provide repair service, we'll help you through the process to get your roaster back up and running. Should you return an unused roaster to us, we will refund your purchase minus the original shipping cost. Once you've used your roaster, we really can't take it back.

Other Items

Any item not covered by a manufacturer's warranty is warranted by The Captain's Coffee to meet or exceed your expectations. If you are dissatisfied with your purchase for any reason, you may return the item to The Captain's Coffee for a replacement or refund in the form of an in-store credit. This offer is good for 30 days from the date of shipment. If applicable, the manufacturer's warranty will supersede this warranty for items sold by The Captain's Coffee.

Shipping

We currently ship to any location in the US with the notable exception that Note that Hawaii Department of Agriculture regulations won't allow us to ship raw coffee to Hawaii.

If you select the "Captain's Special" shipping method, please note that the choice of carrier and delivery method is then entirely at our discretion. For local pick-ups, please allow 24 hours for us to prepare your order before dropping by to pick it up. Shipping weight is calculated in US Pounds.